Subra Suresh and Ming Dao have discovered that the shape and size of blood cells is determined by a tiny opening in the spleen called the interendothelial slit, where the cells undergo a sort of "physical fitness test" before they're able to continue circulating.

Cancer cells often break free from their original locations and circulate through the bloodstream, allowing them to form new tumors elsewhere in the body. Detecting these cells could give doctors a new way to predict whether patients’ tumors will metastasize, or monitor how they are responding...

Last November, GlaxoSmithKline reported a disappointing 30 percent effectiveness in a trial for its RTS,S anti-malarial vaccine. RTS,S had been championed as the most promising vaccine for the mosquito-borne disease, which infects 300 to 500 million people a year while killing nearly one million...